Magical Animorphs 2: The Ministry of Magic
by typhoonboom08
Summary: Knowing of the Yeerks has only made Harry far more determined to get into the Ministry. They needed the locket and they needed the Yeerk Pool found and destroyed, plain and simple. But Justin thinks they're being too hasty and isn't as mentally healthy as Harry believes. Going to the Ministry may very well prove to be a challenge that he's just not ready to handle
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

**Justin**

_They had come with no warning. I had been warned of the Ministry's fall. My family had been on a vacation in Ireland at the time I'd gotten Susan's message, a very lucky break for me. I would have been caught instantly if I was still at home. We'd just kept moving from place to place since, keeping out of sight._

_We never even knew they were close before we were surrounded by the soft pops of apparition. And by the time we registered they were there, they were already firing spells at everyone in the room._

"_Mum, no!" I screamed, ducking a spell only to watch her being thrown right off her feet, not rising again. A loud scream and crash quickly informed that my Dad had been blasted away too._

_Before I could even respond, my arms and legs snapped together and I fell right onto my nose._

"_Got the bloody thief." A voice sneered from above me. The world around me then quickly shifted._

"_Justin Finch-Fletchley, you are hereby found guilty." I cowered, sinking into the chair instead of fighting its chains, as I had been doing for a good ten minutes. The toad, Umbridge, was sneering down at me like she was a Queen or something as she took my wand in her hands and made a big show of snapping it. Now I wasn't just terrified and desperate, I was heartbroken. That was my first wand, the first thing I ever bought on my first trip into Diagon Alley. I had always gone out of my way to take such good care of it. And she just smirked with her fellow, bigoted, racist, delusional Ministry members as she went on to snap the pieces again. "For the crime of stealing a wizard's magic, you shall be sentenced to life in Azkaban._

"_NO! YOU KNOW THAT'S NOT TRUE YOU TWO TIMING TOAD!" I screamed as she brought down her mallet and the chains loosened around my arms a split second before Dementors glided through the room and lifted into the air, dragging me away. "YOU FILTHY TRAITORS! LET ME GO! LET ME GO, LET ME GO!"_

_The world around me barely stayed focused for more than a second after that. One moment, the Dementors were dragging me away, the next I screaming in agony as laughing wizards struck me with curse after curse. The next, the shackles were closed tightly around my wrists while another guy brought a whip down on my leg. The people around me were screaming both in physical pain and mental anguish as cruel men and women shot smiles curses at them and Dementors pooled around us. People hanging limply, never to move again. People taking them away, dragging most across the floor. And then the ones that were worse. The ones that cast spells and let dead walk away themselves. Inferi._

"_Oh, look at this one. Still so healthy and strong." A woman cooed wickedly, her deranged face taking up my entire world of view. "Such a handsome face. I'll remember you." With that, she let loose the most evil, most cliché wicked witch cackle I'd ever heard and sent shivers of pure terror right down my spine._

"AAAAHHHHHH!" Screaming, I threw myself straight up, swinging my arms desperately. I had to get her off me, get her away from me, get...my arms untangle from my soft, thick blanket?

"Right. Just a nightmare. Not there no more." I puffed, quickly trailing my still wild eyes over everything around me. I needed reassurance, all the reassurance I could get.

Though little light was coming through the window so early in the morning, the lamp I'd taken to leaving on at night more than made up for it. I couldn't believe it and I'd never admit to it, but I'd grown quite afraid of the dark and cold. It was to be expected, considering what happened to me, but I still felt very insecure and pathetic, having such childish fears.

Fortunately for my fear induced mind, neither existed in my room. The lamp shined dull, but soothing light into every crack and sheets and blankets were like a cocoon, keeping me warm and toasty. That alone managed to calm me down.

Still, I continued to look around, just to be safe, just make sure that I was still free from them. But yes, there were no Dementors there with me. No malevolent witches, no bloody bodies. Feeling my wrists over, I sighed in relief. No, painfully tight, wrist slitting shackles.

The furniture around me was a bit dark, expensive and a bit too gothic for my tastes, but right now, as far as I was concerned, it looked like the decor of an elegant palace. Even the serpentine figureheads on the top of the bedposts looked beautiful and inviting to me. It was perfect. Because it wasn't my old cell in Azkaban.

Taking a few more deep breaths and forcing myself to wake up properly, I wiped a load of sweat from my brow with one hand and picked up my new wand with the other, running my fingers all over it. Waves of reassurance poured through me as the warm, welcoming, tingling strands of magic interweaved from the wand into my hand, bringing my own magic to life. I had only been in Azkaban for a week or so, but even then, surrounded by so many Dementors, so full of pain and misery, it already felt like my magic had receded, pushing back to core and refusing to come out. Now, I could feel it all over again, from my fingers to my toes. It was a comfort that I never realised I had before and desperately hoped I would never lose again.

Calming down now and wide awake, I quickly waved my wand to check the room, sighing in relief when my magic confirmed that the silencing wards were still intact. The last thing I needed was to disturb the others.

"Well, no point staying in bed." I sighed, pulling back the covers and throwing my feet over the edge. Shivering as my bare feet met the cold, wooden floor, I quickly pulled myself up, gathered some clothes and headed straight for the bathroom as fast as I could.

The one good thing about nightmare induced early rising was the fact that I didn't need to wait or squabble with the others. Walking down the hall, quickly but quietly, not wanting to wake the others, I was free to walk straight into the bathroom. Locking the door, I placed my clothes and a towel by the sink and turned on the water before removing my shirt and boxers and jumping right into the shower.

"Aaauuuuggghhhh!" I moaned blissfully, throwing my head back as the hot water pounded down on my skin, instantly dispelling all the cold from my body. Hot showers, another thing you never appreciate until you don't have them anymore. So is warmth.

I took my time bathing myself. We were at the Grimuald Place, a magical home, so it's not like the hot water was ever going to run out. The old Pureblood elites that used to live here would never allow that to happen. I didn't have to worry about being considerate of the others either. Harry and Hermione were early risers, but even they didn't get up as early as I had been lately. They both usually made their way down to the kitchens first thing in the morning. As for Ron, well he'd sleep past noon if we'd let him.

Finishing up, I stayed under the hot water for a few more minutes, just enjoying the hot spray massaging my muscles, before shutting the water off and drying myself. Wrapping my towel around my waist, I rubbed the steam off the mirror and took a look at my reflection.

A small grin grew as I took in my form. My skin was lightly tanned and healthy looking. I'd regained the little weight I'd lost and my stomach didn't complain about what I put into it anymore. All the cuts and bruises I'd had in my prison cell were healed the night I escaped, but that's all magic was able to cure in an instant. All the rest of it took time, sunlight and a few nutrient potions Hermione whipped up for me. It was amazing how quickly a stay in Azkaban could damage your body. It should have taken much longer to deteriorate that much, even if it wasn't too horrible yet.

The only thing that really told you that I'd experienced hell was my eyes. I was very careful when I was around the others to hide it behind happiness and excitement. It was easy to do, I was ecstatic to be free and every day I not only had some fun with magic, but I morphed. I have this beautiful red kite morph that I'm absolutely in love with. I always thought that nothing could be better than magic, but to be able to fly high and fast, not on a broom, but by your own power, your own wings...I've never felt so alive, free and exhilarated. The way it soars, dives, turns, everything so effortlessly, so completely devoid of fear, I could never describe how happy and free I feel when I'm up in the sky. Then there's the cape buffalo. Yes, it's temper is absolutely nuts, but it is powerful, unyielding. I love practicing with that form too. It's unbelievably reassuring, the raw power in those huge muscles and the stubborn will of its mind. It makes me feel safe. Like nothing will be able to imprison or confined me ever again. I'm too powerful to be held down by a few shackles and a bar door now. At least, that's how I like to think of it.

All of that excitement, all of those distractions definitely do make it easier to be happy around the others. But when I'm alone, when I know no one will see, you wouldn't recognise my eyes. Every time I look at my reflection in this mirror, the eyes looking back at me are disturbingly jaded. It scared me, to know that those were my eyes. Before Azkaban, I never once saw anything close to that on my face. I saw many emotions in them before, usually happiness and excitement, anger, a bit mischievous sometimes, worry when test time was coming around, but they were always bright and alive. The dullness I could see in them now sent shivers down my spine. It was like I was looking at a completely different person.

"No more of that." I told myself firmly, giving my reflection a glare as I started getting dressed. "The others will be up soon and they are not seeing _you_! Perk up Justin, life's not bad at all anymore."

Throwing my used towel into the hamper, I gave my reflection one last look over, making sure that my eyes matched my grin before heading out the door and down to the kitchen.

Noticing that Kreacher, Harry's House elf, was already well into the process of making the most important meal of the day, I gave him a happy nod and set to work making myself a coffee. It was the one thing, besides clothes, that I had to go out and buy when Harry and the others agreed to let me join them. They all drank tea, but I couldn't stand the stuff. Could barely handle pumpkin juice either. As far as I'm concerned, pure water and butterbeer were the only drinks the Wizarding world had got right.

"Mmm." Grinning as the first mouthful went down my throat, I took my usual seat at the dining room table and waited for the others to show. If Kreacher was already cooking, that meant that at least Hermione and Harry were awake by now and since I'd left every door from the kitchen to the stairs open, hopefully the smell of bacon and eggs sizzling would help Harry coax Ron down too.

Sure enough, it didn't take long before the soft thumps of someone descending the stairs met my ears, followed a moment later by Hermione walking slowly through the doorway.

"Good morning Hermione." I smiled before taking another sip of my coffee.

"Morning Justin. Up early again I see." Hermione greeted, making a beeline for the smoking pot of tea as it levitated its way from the kitchen onto the table. "Sometimes I wonder if you sleep at all." She mused, keeping her eyes focused on her cup as she started pouring with one hand and grabbed the milk with the other. "You're always the first up and the last down."

"Yes well, I always was up with the sun." I shrugged, taking another sip. It wasn't that big of a lie, I was always an early riser. Though before, it wasn't quite so early and I went to bed earlier. "Though I'm hardly the only one who could be accused of not sleeping quite right." I added teasingly, raising an eyebrow. "You're almost as bad as me."

"I suppose that's true." She conceded with a shrug. "I do lose track of time when there's a good book in front of me."

"Particularly one with three thousand pages." I chuckled as she sent me a mock glare.

"Well, pulling off break-ins into the most defended places in the Magical UK requires a lot of study."

"That book last night was on the rights of Beings and Beasts, not the Ministry itself. If anything, you were planning to take the Ministry by storm another way." I countered with a smirk.

"Well maybe I am." She stated proudly, completely unphased by being caught out. "After all, the Death Eaters and Yeerks will be dealt with eventually and we may be able to use the slavery and oppression they've caused to force the Ministry to understand the position they've forced others to live in and fix relinquish the unfair, prejudice laws against them."

That's Hermione for you. There's no guarantee that we were going to be able to stop the Yeerks, they're invading the entire planet and the Animorph rebellion teams were few and small, but she had already declared that yes, we would win against both enemies and she was going to use the damage to create a paradise. You have to admire her, this girl does not think small by any means.

We didn't have to wait too much longer for the others to show up, though they looked far more dishevelled than Hermione or myself. Whereas Hermione kept her clothes neat and brushed her hair and I, coming from one of those families that has an image to uphold, made sure I was perfectly presentable before leaving the bathroom of a morning, Harry and Ron looked like they'd just crawled out of bed and followed their noses blindly. Then again, in Ron's case, that was probably exactly what he'd done.

"Food." The redhead moaned, flopping down into his seat and staring hard down at the table. "How much longer is there to wait?"

"Good morning to you too, sunshine." I rolled my eyes, giving Harry a nod as he sat down beside me with a chuckle.

"Augh, just what I needed, another morning person." Ron groaned in response, looking up just long enough to give me an annoyed glare. "Why must you be so...awake in the morning?"

"Because some of us actually have a seize the day attitude to life, as opposed to your laziness." Hermione retorted for me as I nodded along.

"What's there to gain from being mopey and moody?" I added, looking at him expectantly."

"More sleep if everyone around you agrees." Was Ron's only response before he placed his head down on the table and waited for the food to show up.

"Maybe someone should introduce him to caffeine." I pondered, finishing off my mug. "That would wake him up."

"So would a bucket of ice water. I suggest sticking to methods that don't risk hyperactivity." Harry replied amusedly. "He's never had caffeine. We don't know how it'll affect him. At least we know to run after we throw the water and that he won't catch us."

"And he's s'pose to be my best mate." Ron whined within his arm as the rest of us laughed. Still, he had no time to say anything else, for it was at that moment that Kreacher had breakfast appear on the table. Within seconds, Ron had gone from sluggish and barely alive to having a fully loaded plate and practically inhaling his food.

"I don't care what you say, I will never get used to that." I muttered, watching on with disgusted fascination. It was rather disturbing to watch, but at the same time, so astounding that you just can't take your eyes off of it.

"I know I sure haven't." Hermione agreed, ignoring him completely as she grabbed her bowl of porridge. "Just turn your head away and keep an eye on your own plate."

"And slap away any hands that try to take anything from it." Harry added jokingly, taking a little bit of everything offered at a much more lax and polite pace.

"Hey! I don't steal others food!"

"Ronald, swallow, then talk!" Hermione snapped as food crumbs flew in all directions. Harry just laughed while I pushed my chair and plate further away from the messy redhead.

Still, piggy boy Weasley's eating habits aside, a feeling of pure contentment crossed over me as we ate. Breakfast had become my favourite time of the day. It was when everything seemed most normal and cheerful. Like things were before. I mean, sure, they weren't my Hufflepuff year mates or my parents, but they were my friends and we were sitting together, eating a good meal filled with laughter and good natured teasing, like we didn't have a care in the world. All the problems we had now were always left until after the food had settled in our stomachs, no mention of the Dark Lord or Yeerks to be found.

Yeah, it was this point in the day that I really felt like my old self again.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:<strong> And we're back with the third installment. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Just felt like I'd mention that this story will have a much faster pace than the last one. We're not following a shy, insecure young man this time, we're following the Golden Trio. Impatience and recklessness is their forte. I'm also going to warn you that this story, sadly, will not update as quickly as the last one did. At the moment, it'll probably be fortnightly updates until I run out of chapters.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**Harry**

"So, do you think we're ready?" I asked, looking around the table. The mood was much different than it was the last time we were all gathered there. Everyone was tense, somber and frowning hard. The table was covered in blueprints Hermione and Ron had managed to track down, most of them very old, of the Ministry of Magic. We'd spent hours going over them, learning our way, trying to determine where our targets would be and seeking out escape methods should something go wrong.

Sad to say, if something did blow up in our faces, the only great hiding place would be the Department of Mysteries and even if we were willing to go anywhere near there, The Unspeakables would probably have a much easier time cornering us than the Death Eaters had. We'd probably go in playing right into their hands.

"Not really, but I don't think that we're going to get any better of a chance than we have now." Hermione sighed, rubbing her forehead as she went over strenuous notes and plans she jotted down. "What's the chances of another Morphing Cube equivalent miracle dropping into our laps? Or, more specifically, one that won't also add yet another disaster for us to track down and destroy along with it?"

She had a very good point. For the most part, the series of events we'd faced last week had given us a spectacular advantage. The power to morph was an invaluable asset, especially considering that we'd not long realised that we'd have to infiltrate the Ministry. We'd known that we'd have to disguise ourselves as Ministry officials, and that had meant Polyjuice potion, something that was very hard to acquire and took a month to brew yourself. The morphing power however, had not only made that step unnecessary, it had also doubled our time, at least. There was no way to sneak the potion into the Ministry at this point, so one dose was all we would have had. Morphing however, gave us two hours before we'd be trapped in morph, and if that wasn't enough time, we could find an abandoned office or lavatory to demorph and morph back again. Plus, we had control over when we'd change back, as opposed to our true selves slowly revealing themselves when our time was up.

And if something really unforseen happened, we could morph an insect or something. After all, they'd only look for humans and the horde of specific animals 'I led into battle' at Azkaban. In all honesty, it was amazing that they believed that there were that many Animagus' in the country. The ability is rare and usually far between.

Still, we hoped it didn't come to that. The Yeerks might be a little wiser to our ploy than they're letting on. Even if their leader, Visser Three, didn't believe it, that didn't meant that other Yeerks didn't see the possibility of the morphing power being at play and it was best that we didn't confirm that. At least until part of the disaster, as Hermione had put it, was taken care of.

This would be our only chance to deal with the problems at the Ministry. Originally, we were going in just to steal a Horcrux that Umbridge stole. Now however, as if that wasn't going to be deadly dangerous on its own, we had been informed that somewhere in the Ministry was a Yeerk Pool. And as there wouldn't be another chance to enter the Ministry after this, what with the no doubt that they'd enhance security again, this would be our only shot to destroy it. And to destroy it, we'd first have to find it.

So basically, the advantage is accompanied by a second needle in a magical, possibly shifting, haystack and we weren't going to be lucky enough to get another great and catch free break.

"So, we're going to dive into the place with all our enemies crowded around us and search nearly blindly through all the floors of the Ministry of Magic, in the forms of people that we only know work there, not what they do, have jurisdiction to access or even what names they respond to, and hope we stumble upon the Yeerks' greatest secret and one really crummy politician?" Justin asked, unusually calm. His face was so blank at that moment that it was really unsettling. Whatever Justin was feeling, he was always expressive. I worked with him closely in Herbology for six years, had moments when he was really happy with me, moments when he was afraid of me, angry, but he was never hard to read.

Hermione seemed to catch it too, her own face growing unreadable as she studied him. However, it disappeared a second later as he threw his arms in the air dramatically. "That's what you guys call a plan? You think about how to get there and then just wing it?"

"If you've got a better plan, we're all ears." Ron retorted challengingly. "But good luck. Besides, our plans have always worked before."

"You must have claimed favour with whatever God of Luck wizards worship." Was Justin's response, rubbing a hand over his face, staring at all of us in disbelief. "You Gryffindors really are a cocky bunch, aren't you?"

"Comes with the territory." Hermione shrugged, whatever she was focusing on before completely wiped from her face. "But Ron is right though, this is as good as we can get from the outside right now. At least we managed to find the old schematics of the place and updated locations of each department. They should at least help us from getting lost, and sharpen our search for the Yeerk Pool."

"Until you involve magic." Justin muttered under his breath, just loud enough for me to hear it. While the others went on to narrow down the possible places to hide a Yeerk Pool, which immediately considered the perimeter of every floor as a new room could have been dug into any wall bordering the Ministry, perfect for storing a secret infestation centre, I took a moment to study him.

Justin was only just added to the team and hadn't sat comfortably in just yet. There was no real problem with him, and we all liked each other just fine, it was simply that we weren't used to there being four of us and he really didn't think and act the way we did. He was patient, could draw things out, while we tried to make a move as quickly as possible. This wasn't the first time this week that he'd called us cocky or reckless. He preferred to think things through more carefully. Unlike Hermione, who took all the knowledge she could and jumped on the first logical idea that passed her mind, he'd take the extra time to make sure he knew what he was getting into and plan carefully, thinking right through to the possible endings before starting. This had equalled him exasperatedly rubbing his temples a couple of times in these discussions.

Still, he was nothing, if not loyal. When he first joined us, we sat him down and told him everything we were doing to stop Voldemort and all the very high levels of risk, confusion, basically everything we'd see and how little we actually knew. He told us we were nuts to be doing this, especially alone, but he declared that he was sticking by us anyway. Just like he was now. He hated our 'wing it' method, but when trying to talk us out of it proved pointless, he still made no move to bail out, but rather tried to make it work. He was still in all the way. I was still trying to figure out how to handle that. The only time it's happened to me since first year, when Hermione was scolding us for breaking curfew while following us as we broke curfew, and even then she was trying to get us to turn around every step of the way, was with the Department of Mysteries disaster in fifth year. And even then, the others mostly just followed, not try to lower the risks themselves.

"Ok, you know what? Let's accept the fact that wandering around aimlessly isn't going to find the pool." Justin exclaimed, drawing me back to the conversation. "Umbridge maybe, pool, no! So how about we try a stealthy animal and see if we can find a Controller to lead us to it?"

"How is that any more likely to help?" Ron asked sceptically, folding his arms. "It's still just wandering about looking for people and places we don't know, or even if they matter!"

"Because people say and do things when they think they're alone that they don't do when they know people could see or hear it." Justin answered slowly, like he was talking to a child or a drunk. "If the Yeerks are planning to use this pool to get new hosts, they'll need to talk about it and go to it at some point. Running mouths are always easier to find than hidden rooms."

"Well, that is definitely true." Hermione conceded, a little disgruntled. Though I thought that might be because she didn't think of it first. "But where can we find an animal with the right type of stealth talent and sufficient senses to pull this off? No insect will cut it."

"No, but a chameleon can." Justin grinned, his whole face lighting up as Hermione agreed with him. "I'll take the chameleon." He added eagerly. "There's a couple at the zoo."

"That's seriously your better plan?" Ron scoffed, flinging himself back into his chair. "Chameleons are small lizards, right? How could they do the job?"

"I'm not saying it will work. I really doubt it will actually." Justin retorted, raising an unimpressed eyebrow. "I'm just suggesting the best method I can with what pathetically little we've got to work with. You're right, even if I do luck out and discover a Controller, I'd be likely to lose them in the crowd or get discovered if I followed. The sad part is that it still ups the chances of this little...adventure's success." He finished, looking as if he would have liked to use a very different word for it.

"So you want to focus on the Pool?" I asked mildly, cutting off Ron before he could make a remark. "You're willing to take the more risky side of this plan?"

"If it keeps me out of Umbridge's line of sight, I am all for it." Was his simple response as something I couldn't quite read passed quickly through his eyes, his grin not looking entirely honest. It was all gone as soon as it came though, so I shrugged it off. Umbridge had sentenced him to Azkaban and before that she was rotten, horrid teacher in our fifth year. Of course he wouldn't want to go anywhere near her.

"Then just listen in and wait for the rest of us before you take any action." Said Hermione. "That goes for everyone. Neither of our targets are without a great deal of risk. We can't make a solo mission of any of this." I frowned right back at her in annoyance as she said that, staring pointedly at me the whole time.

"Yes, yes, teamwork time, coven away!" I exclaimed with an eye roll. I got it, I can't do this alone. I don't need her reminding me of that, everyone we've seen has said the exact same thing and Justin reminds all of us how reckless we are daily.

"Coven away?" Ron asked, frowning uncertainly at me. "What the hell was that mate?"

"Too much TV. Or comic books." Justin answered for me, snickering under his breath.

"Moving on," Hermione butted in impatiently with an irritated eye roll of her own. "I think that since we are bringing the morphing into play for this, we might as well make Justin happy and use it to try and prepare for the possibility of this blowing up in our faces and acquire a few more animals."

"Why? My polar bear is as good as we're going to get. You know, since we don't have access to magical creatures." Ron shrugged dismissively.

"And to think you have the skills of a strategist. Why do they only come out in chess?" Hermione sighed, staring him down exasperatedly. "Not every morphing related solution will be associated with fighting Ronald! Justin's chameleon idea is clear proof of that! I was thinking about animals that could help us get away."

"Like our owls?" Was Ron's smug response only for it to slip away completely a second later.

"No, like flies!" Hermione almost screamed. "Animals that are so small that they're not likely to be noticed and so common that no one's going to question their presence if they are!"

"You want to morph bugs?" Ron cried, looking ready to gag at the mere thought. Granted, I didn't like the thought too much either.

"Yes. We can't afford to be picky about what we are willing to turn into. If it can help us get a job done or, more importantly, if it could save our lives, we need to be willing to morph it. What's the point of using the morphing power at all if we don't?" Neither Ron or I were too thrilled with this lecture, but she was right. Bugs could save us when all other forms would get us killed. It would be wise to acquire them.

"Well, at least someone's been listening to me." Justin muttered under his breath. Still, he was looking a little green as he stared at the table, looking unsure whether to be happy or irritated by the fact. Years in the Greenhouses together had quickly allowed me to learn of his aversion to insects. A cockroach ran up his arm once and he drew everyone's attention by screaming like a baby and running around the greenhouse whipping his arm around erratically. We hadn't even known what he was screaming about until the roach flew right off his arm after two minutes of wild swing and landed on Lavender's head, resulting in two screaming students running around until Justin realised it was gone and Professor Sprout managed to hold Lavender down long enough to remove the insect from her long hair.

"I think that's a good idea." Nodding my agreement, I stood up and stretched, my muscles going stiff from sitting in the same position for so long. "Justin and I will go to the zoo tonight so that he can acquire the chameleon. Hermione, any animals that you think of that can help us disappear, I'll get Kreacher to collect them for us. Now, is there anything else anyone wants to add?"

Complete silence answered me back as I stared around at the others. Ron didn't look like he cared to add anything. He was confident that our plan was as good as it could possibly get. Hermione frowned down at the blue prints and notes, going over everything, double checking everything she could possibly think of that could help had been mentioned. Meanwhile, Justin looked like he was visibly holding himself back from telling us all off again, but he had come to terms with the fact that we wouldn't wait any longer. I was sure that he'd think up more ways to tell us that this was a bad idea by the time the sun set though. Even if he knew we were hard set, he wasn't gonna stop griping.

"Alright then. Then let's get everything we'll need ready. We're doing this tomorrow."

...

I found myself sitting in Sirius' room again that night. The letter my mother had written him and the picture of a baby version of myself flying around on a toy broom were in my hands, but I'd long since stopped staring at them. I'd been wondering what it would have been like to live with my parents even more than before lately. Ever since I saw this picture, saw myself so young and so happy.

Since I left Private Drive, I've wondered what it would have been like if I'd had Dudley's care when I was younger too. The realisation of just how big of an affect saving him from the Dementors was nothing short of world changing. The small acts of kindness he'd done for me over the last summer, so many that I'd either been suspicious of or hadn't noticed, it made me realise that despite how his parents had raised him, there was someone who could of truly been a good big brother for me in him. I wished that I had noticed that before. I wished he'd realised that when we were young.

I wasn't really sure why I was wondering about the what ifs so much. I couldn't change the past after all. And in some cases, as bad as it sounded, I was probably the better one off of our group right now. Ron was constantly terrified, his family right in the line of fire. Hermione's parents didn't even realise that they had a daughter and were far from her reach. That had to be especially painful, those you love most, the people who are supposed to care and love you unconditionally, not even recognising your face. Then there was Justin's family. He'd said nothing of them, but Hermione had found their obituaries. They had been murdered, probably when Justin was apprehended. We could only hope he didn't see it happen. That was my advantage. I didn't have any of that to worry or grieve over.

I only had a bunch of what ifs and a horrid childhood to put behind me.

"Harry?" Looking up as at a light tap against the door, I watched as Hermione walked in with a box in hand, closing it softly behind her. "Kreacher picked this up for me. It's one more morph that might help if we get discovered."

"Lovely." I shrugged, putting the letter and photo away as she approached. "What is it this time, a cockroach? A moth? A nargle?" I added jokingly, smiling a little. I actually missed Hermione and Luna's debates over their existence sometimes.

"A mouse." Hermione answered, grinning a little herself. "They're small, move fast and have really good senses. They're a bit bigger than the fly obviously, and might cause a bit of a stir if it's seen, but it's not too out of place really and it could cover a lot more ground than our fly morphs could."

"No need to convince me. Hand it over." Taking a seat next to me, she gently handed over the box and opened it for me to reveal a little, brown rodent that...looked like it was out drunk?

"I gave it a few drops of calming draft." Hermione answered, my confused face doing all the asking for me. "Mice can be very tricky to hold onto when they're active and alert and I thought that this would be less stressful for it too. Or, well, Justin did." She added sheepishly.

"It's a smart idea." I mused, placing my hand on its back and concentrating, enjoying the tingling sensation running through my palm as I acquired its DNA. The sixth morph to join my list. "Lessens the risks of harm to both us and the mouse, mentally and physically. It's kind of weird really, having someone working so hard on that. He makes even you look like a daredevil."

"Yes, I've noticed." She nodded, her voice laced with a strange mix of irritation and respect, as she fiddled with the duvet. "That could be a part of what I wanted to talk to you about actually."

"What do you mean?" I asked, carefully closing the box again, taking care to let air into it, before turning to her with a frown.

"I'm a little worried about Justin. Have been since he joined us really." She muttered, eyeing the door critically, as if expecting eavesdroppers to be pressing their ears against it on the other side. "He came to us far too happy for what happened to him. He hasn't mentioned his family and I'm confident that he knows what happened to them, nor has he grieved. He shies away from everything to do or said about Azkaban, we don't even know for sure how long he was in there! And then there's his choices for morphs..."

"What about them?" I asked, raising a confused eyebrow. They seemed like perfectly understandable choices to me. They didn't seem any different than the rest of ours.

"Red kites blend in during the day and make a great quick escape option, cape buffalos are so strong and durable even a pride of lions is wary of taking one on, often failing to kill it on the rare attempt that they do try, and now a chameleon, a creature that you could look right at and never realise that it's there." Hermione answered, counting them off on her raised fingers. "Normally, considering the mess we're in, I wouldn't question any of those choices, but considering what he's been through and how keen he was to get them...he's choosing them for specific reasons that go beyond the Yeerks and infiltration. He's choosing them for his own protection, taking the morphs that most guarantee that he can get away. I'm worried about him Harry. About his mental state. I don't know if he's ready for this."

"He doesn't think we're ready for this." I mentioned, gnawing on my lip as I let this all sink in.

"Which could just be pointing out his nature for care and caution or it could be his desperation to avoid his personal hell again. He won't stay out of it, he won't let himself. We're almost certainly putting him into a situation he's not ready for."

"Hermione, let's be honest, he's right." I sighed, running a hand through my hair. "None of us are ready for this. Any of this. Yeerks, Horcruxes, Death Eaters, with every one, we've been left with far too little information and completely isolated. We're running around on a wing and pray, scrounging for every little piece of information or weapon that we can get our hands on and watching friend after friend be killed or basically enslaved. We're not ready to handle any of this. But we have no choice. We have to do it. There's a Yeerk Pool right dead center where basically every powerful figure in all of the Wizarding UK gathers. That's the last place on Earth we can have one of those things! Then there's the Horcrux! We have to get it. there's no way around that. We need to get every single one and destroy them as soon as possible. And, as much as I don't like adding other people to our jobs, we're going to need him."

"I know that!" Hermione snapped, though making a point to keep her voice down. "I've known that we'd need help, and lots of it, since you were back in the first run through of your 'I'm going to go off and save the world completely on my own' phase. That's part of the reason why I created the DA. I hoped it would get you to realise the power of a group and that you'd need one. But that doesn't change the fact that we are currently talking about a traumatised young man going on a mission to a place that not only sent him to hell the first time round, but would have him surrounded by the people who put him there and could easily send him back! That's incredibly risky, both for him and for us, as it is and we're putting him in a position where he's going to be alone for an unknown amount of time!"

"I know! But what else can we do?" I cried, thrusting myself from the bed and whipping around on her. My temper was getting the better of me. "We need all three of us to deal with the Horcrux! With Umbridge and the people she surrounds herself with, it'll take two of us to distract everyone while the third goes for it! The Yeerk Pool is going to take much longer to find as it is, we need someone looking for a clue to it from the get go and he's the only one with the right morph. If you were so unsure of his ability, why didn't you mention you issue of leaving him alone for twenty minutes before now?"

"Because I didn't act hastily enough! I made a mistake." Hermione retorted, her own aggravation rising. "I've been thinking over again and again all day, since our discussion, and connecting more dots. And who knows, maybe I'm seeing connections that aren't really there, but I just...I'm just worried that something will go wrong." She sighed, taking a deep breath and letting her anger dissipate as she stared at the floor. "This is risky enough as it is Harry. We can't have Justin faltering at the face of danger making it worse. He's never done anything like this before, we have no way of knowing how he's going to react. And this isn't a small, easily fled cafe. This is the Ministry of Magic, one of the most heavily protected places in the Magical UK, at the moment when it's at its most populated timeframe. There's a great chance that none of this are coming back alive as it is."

"I know, Hermione, I know." I groaned, clenching my head tightly as I sat back down next to her again. "But we just don't have a choice in the matter now. The plan's set and we need him for it. We can't let the necklace and the Yeerk Pool stay there any longer. We have to take them out now, before they're moved out of our reach completely. we've wasted too much time as it is, we should have gotten that blasted necklace a week ago. We're just going to have to hope for the best. He did do pretty well in Azkaban you know?"

"But that's different. He was used to Azkaban and was ecstatic at the thought of leaving a hellhole, not risking entering one."Hermione sighed again, though this time it was one of defeat. "But you're right. We need to get that necklace before someone becomes wise to what it is. Let's just hope that we're here to try and destroy it in twenty four hours time."

"We will be." I stated as firmly as I could. We had to be. Too much rode on this. On us. We had to succeed. We had to keep going until both of our objectives were finished and were safely out of there, death simply wasn't an option.

Both the Muggle and Magical UK was depending on us.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:<strong> Told you they'd move into it quick. I really do want to show the recklessness and impatience of the Golden Trio in this story, as well as the true nature of a Hufflepuff. I hope I've got both looking right so far.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

**Justin**

"Stupefy!" The poor man never even saw it coming before Harry's spell had struck his back. With a flash of red, another man was stunned. Who was he? I hadn't a clue, nor did my friends. All we knew was that he worked for the Ministry.

"Mind his head." Hermione muttered softly as we got to work, quickly picking him up and carrying him in an unused lavatory before anyone could see us. If they did, this would be very hard to explain and risk the already near non-existent chances of this mission's success horribly. After all, kidnapped people don't go work, they go to the authorities, assuming that they get away at all.

Moving to the back, which was, quite thankfully, bent a little around a corner and out of the way, we set him down as gently as possible before stripping him until only his underwear remained. Just like our first two victims.

We didn't have the first idea who they were either, a fact that only emphasised the point I'd been making all week. These three workers, they could be the Minister's personal assistants or they could be janitors for all I knew. We didn't know so much as their names and we were going into a place where their names, jobs, basically you name it, was known by everyone around them. The others wouldn't know when to respond, what to say or even where they can go with or without looking out of place. What were they going to do when they were approached about why they'd reached a place outside of their departments, claim they got lost after thirty years on the job?

Still, I said nothing as I watched Ron acquire our new captive, a slightly pudgy man that looked like a possible older version of Ron himself. I had said over and over again that we were being far too impulsive, too hasty, but they would not listen then and they will simply ignore any flaws I pointed out now.

I would have left it for now, until we knew more. Until we could determine approachable targets and know enough about them to pass ourselves off as them properly. It wasn't like this Horcrux was in any real danger right now, only the Dark Lord himself knew what it was and he had no way of being aware Umbridge had it. If he did, she would have lost it, and maybe her life too, long before now. We knew who had it and how to track it down, it could wait until we were properly prepared. We didn't even know if she even had it with her at work. We may be doing this for nothing on that end and spoiling our easiest way of getting to it. Everything about this said we should wait.

Unfortunately, the others, particularly Harry, didn't know the meaning of the word. They made impatience and haste an art form.

"Are the wards good to go, Hermione?" Harry called as she moved out of our sight, taking the woman's clothes with her to change while the rest of us started removing our shirts.

"Yes, no one should enter. We're safely concealed." With Hermione's answer both Ron and Harry quickly finished shedding their pants and shoes, tossing them into a pile before dressing themselves in their own captives' attire. I just frowned at them for that, carefully folding my jeans and placing them neatly on my already folded shirt. I was raised to be neat, it was drilled into me basically from the moment I started walking. Their sloppiness annoyed me, But again, I kept my mouth shut. I couldn't help if I was a bit prissy, as Hannah and Wayne always enjoyed putting it, and they were messy and sloppy. So I resisted the urge to roll my eyes and tidy their stuff and just focused on myself, repositioning my uncomfortably tight shirt. I was the only one that could morph spandex so far, thanks to all my extra practice, but spending your teenage years in the loose, flowing clothing of wizard wear made the tight fabric quite irritating.

The clicking of unsteady heels on the concrete heralded Hermione's return just as the boys were shrugging into their outer cloaks, wobbling dangerously. Those heels weren't her size yet and she didn't have the greatest amount of experience with heels to begin with. Hopefully, she wouldn't have to run anywhere. "Good, you're all ready. Shall we begin?"

"The sooner the better." Harry nodded, forcing me to hold back another eye roll as I nodded my head. Still, I guess I had to agree. There was no stopping this stupidity, so we might as well get it over with. So, we put all of our clothes, and my wand, safely into Hermione's charmed bag and began our morphs.

The others' were really disturbing, considering that they were only going from one human form to the next. Random parts of their bodies bulged and reshaped, just like they did with any morph, but it was like watching two humans trying to mash themselves together, and not very well. Ron was gaining a lot of extra weight without the bigger body structure, making him look a bit like a walrus. The end of Hermione's nose expanded, but the bridge remained its normal size, making her look a little like a clown, if only it was red. Harry was almost a twig, having acquired a much larger man himself and seemed to be doing the opposite of Ron, gaining height without extra mass. Like he wasn't thin enough.

Still, I probably won most disturbing. Green scales quickly grew over my entire body before shifting to the dull, grey colour surrounding us a moment or two later. I basically went from looking like a scaly, sick person to a scaly zombie in under a minute.

"Uhh, didn't need to see that!" Ron turned a little green himself as he scrunched up his face at me. I wanted to commented on how his look was not exactly model material either, but it was at that time that my mouth pushed out with a series of clicks and spasms in my jaw. Talking probably wouldn't have been very easy at all anymore.

When all three of the others quickly found the end to their altering heights, I started shrinking fast. My limbs were sucked back in even faster than my torso, leaving them too weak to hold my weight and causing me to flop on the ground. Grinding filled my ears as my ribcage pressed in on itself and my hipbones deteriorated, reshaping my main body into a bit more rounded shape before the scales along my spine hardened and pushed up a little, creating a crest of spikes. My tail grew out next, long and firm, the end curling up instinctively as it finished. My fingers and toes separated around my hands and feet, giving each new foot a form comparable to tongs.

The last changes were on my head. The one that freaked me out when I did this last night occurred next. My ear holes closed up completely. It threw me off a great deal last night, I'd always heard that chameleons had great hearing, not deafness. However, after a little experimentation, I realised that even without outer ears, the chameleon hears just fine. Like snakes, they detect sound frequencies, very well too I might add. It took a bit of effort, with help from Ron and Hermione, but it eventually I was able to determine some of the words they said, words to look out for. I was hoping that it would be enough.

With no use for ears, all the skin at the sides of my head moved up and back, creating a large crest on the back of my head that reminded me a lot of a triceratops'. Meanwhile, my tongue lengthened and coiled itself in my mouth dramatically. By the time it was done, it was actually twice as long as my body! How freaky is that?

The final change was my eyes. my lower and upper eyelids fused together as they, and my eyeballs, bulged out of my head, making me look a lot like an alien. My vision went completely blurry for a few seconds before my brain properly adapted to interpreting my new vision. There were differences after all. My eyes were independent now to start with, and gave me a three sixty view of myself. It was good sharp vision too, but the biggest change was that I wasn't limited to just one spectrum of light anymore. In addition to seeing what humans see, I could also see ultraviolet light. That was what amazed me most when I first morphed the chameleon. Humans see so little, we don't even come close to understanding just how blind and deaf we actually are. Every morph I get reveals that to me more and more.

The instincts took no time at all to show up once my body was complete, but I had no problems keeping it under wraps. The chameleon isn't a flighty or aggressive creature. If threatened, it'll go nuts, biting, rapidly changing colours and whatnot, but normally, it was calm and lazy. It rarely had to try to hide, what did it have to fear?

/I still say that's one weird little creature/ Ron muttered, frowning disturbedly down at me.

/As opposed to the mashed up mutant looking creatures of the magical world?/ I retorted, more out instinct than anything. Ron had a habit of annoying me. His bluntness and thoughtlessness just didn't sit well with me.

/Does it really matter right now?/ Hermione butted in as Harry picked me up and placed me in his pocket, my scales going black as I touched the fabric. /Let's just go! We may have twice the time now, but that doesn't mean that we should waste any of it./

"Blarghtsfgsh!" I think Ron responded with his mouth, but I didn't catch it. He didn't use any words whose frequency patterns I recognised. If I had to guess, I'd say it was something along the lines of 'whatever'.

"Fgra go." Harry sighed, his body shaking with the vibrations, before heading toward the door, the other two quickly following.

...

I watched with my head carefully poking out of the fabric as Harry led us from one public bathroom to another, the only operating entrance into the Ministry most people could hope to access at this point. The highest members of staff and those dragging prisoners in had Portkeys that were specially made to pass through the wards of the Ministry, but that was it and every holder was critically looked over and judged before they were given one. The rest of Ministry...apparently they had to flush themselves down a toilet!

/That is disgusting, ridiculous and highly suspicious!/ I exclaimed as we entered, separating from Hermione as we lined up. How this was ever considered inconspicuous, I'll never know. There was an absolutely huge line up of people in expensive suits and strange robes going into the bathroom. The sound of flushing toilets was a constant and more people went in every few seconds, but no one ever came out. I seriously wonder if most witches and wizards suffer from missing chromosomes or other mental defects from inbreeding far more than I should. Either that, or they really think all Muggles are. There better be spells on something this obvious, or I am going to personally slap common sense into every spellcaster alive. This is just insulting.

/At least you're a bit protected in there./ Harry muttered back uncomfortably, scrunching his face up like he was going to be sick as he forced himself into the bowl.

/Good idea!/ With that, I ducked my head right back down and used my tong shaped feet to close the flap tightly. Hopefully, the thick fabric would be resilient to the water.

Fortunately, whatever magic was put on the toilet bowl came into effect before I had anything to worry about. The cloak tugged up as Harry reached for the flusher and within an instant of the toilet beginning its cycle, we were sucked straight down and through at simply incredible speed. I had no idea what was happening, we just zipped through...whatever for a few seconds and the next thing I knew, Harry's feet were thumping hard against the ground as our bodies were surrounded by a sudden blissful heat and fwoosh of a blazing fire. Stumbling a few feet, Harry took a moment to regain his bearings before walking slowly and stably again.

/Everyone make it?/ Hermione called as Harry was shoved passed in the hustle. Poking my head out again, I took a quick glance around to find the area packed with Ministry workers, all of them moving much faster than Harry.

/I'm here./ Ron called.

/Justin and I are too./

/Harry, speed up! You're drawing attention to yourself./ I ordered, flicking my tail at his side.

/But we have to meet up with the other before heading out./ He cried as another person bumped him.

/Then pick a place to meet where people aren't moving like their tailcoats were set on fire./ I retorted exasperatedly. How had these three survived any of their adventures? At least now I knew why they found so much trouble on them.

/Everyone go to the fountain./ Hermione responded immediately, giving me the urge to morph human, drop on my knees and scream thankyou to the heavens. At least someone on this team had common sense. And the others listened. Harry immediately picked up his pace, not stopping until he reached a checkpoint and was waved through. Fortunately, the checkpoint consisted of checking the person's wand for identification and, naturally, every witch and wizard kept that on them at all times. We didn't even have to try and steal their wands, they were in their pockets.

/Bloody hell!/ Ron sounded winded as Harry and I made it passed the checkpoint. /What is that doing there?/

/Demanding we know our place./ Hermione answered, both anger and sadness mixed in her voice.

I felt like someone had punched me in the gut as what they were talking about registered in my head. My little heart pumped like crazy as images of my last trip through here flashed through my mind. When they'd caught me, I'd regained consciousness when I was being dragged through here. The first thing I saw as I struggled to open my eyes, aside from blank or sneering faces of Ministry Officials, was the fountain. I'd forgotten about the it. There's a list of bad memories connected to this place and that one was rather small, easy to forget about in comparison, but it was coming back strong now.

I wanted nothing more than to run, blend in with the crowd and get as far away from that monstrosity as I could. Instead, I forced myself out of Harry's pocket and clambered down him to the stone wall circling the pool of water and trembled at the sight of before us, the others staring at it morbidly.

I'd never been here before the takeover, so I don't know what the others expected to see, but I could promise that this wasn't it. The new fountain statue was made of obsidian stone and was branded with the mark of the Ministry. A fact that was absolutely horrific as you stared at sculpture. Countless naked Muggles struggling pitifully to hold a thick, stone platform over their heads. And on that platform were a man and woman in elegant robes and sitting on thrones fit for a king, both of them looking out over the area with looks of authority and control. And to finish it all off, there was a plaque at the platform base.

/Magic is Might./ My colouration flickered dangerous as Hermione morbidly read that. It took a dangerous moment to get it back under control and blend back in with the stone I now sat on. I could only hoped Harry blocked me from sight as it happened.

The moment I was caught flashed through my mind again. A moment that proved that statement true, when my magic-less parents were...I had to stop right there! I had to focus, I couldn't let myself be caught up in those memories, not now. That was what my nightmares were for. I had a job to do, I could cry later, when I was back in my warded room.

/Well, that's about as subtle as a nuclear bomb./ Harry grunted disgustedly, his fists clenching so tight that his knuckles went white.

/Yeah, what an eyesore./ I muttered, forcing my emotions back to just aggravation. /And I would love to destroy it, but let's focus. We have less than two hours to pull off a set of unrealistic plans and none of them involve demolishing trash talking artwork./

/Right. You'll be alright here on your own?/ Hermione asked warily, a bit of concern etched in as she pulled her head away from the statue.

/Yeah, I'll be fine./ I was lying through me teeth, figuratively speaking, but I was proud of how bright and confident that came out. I was ready for this plan to come to its end, so whatever sped it up was brilliant to me at this point. /Go guys, you're wasting time./

/Alright then./ Ron shrugged, quickly turning toward the elevators. /Good luck man. Don't get caught./

/Oh, and here I was hoping for another round with the Dementors./ I rolled my eyes. /I'll be fine. You guys are the ones going into the lion's den. Make sure you get back out./

/Promise./ Harry responded right as an elevator arrived and opened its doors. With that, the three of them climbed in and had me flinching as a very familiar, intimidating man instantly started breathing down Ron's neck.

Well, what a great start! Their cover could be blown before they reach the second floor. I would have sighed and shrugged in defeat if I was human. There was nothing I could do about it, I could only hope that they could worm their way through it. They did have a knack for it after all, so hopefully they would be fine.

That really didn't satisfy me, but considering that it was the best I was going to get, I turned my attention back to the horde speed walking all over the area. I had my own job with a ridiculously low chance of success to perform.

...

Around an hour later, I really wished that I picked a different morph.

The chameleon was fine on paper, and for the first part of this plan, it worked well, but I was starting to have problems with a few drawbacks, the most obvious one being the lack of outer ears. I could detect plenty of sound, but I barely got any words at all. It didn't help either that most people were talking low or not at all as they went by, keen to get away from the eyes of others. The only ones that were loud and obnoxious enough for me to make out a few words and guess a few sentences were people who benefitted from the new Order. Death Eater scum.

The other problem was the fact that I was cold blooded. I hadn't taken that into account. There was no sunlight or great heat source down there. In fact, it was rather cold. My body was quickly growing more and more lethargic. If I couldn't get close to heat source soon, I'd have to demorph before my body went into hibernation or something and resulted in me being trapped with scales forever.

I'd followed my human instinct to move around and try up my heat, but that only drained me faster. Not that the chameleon's instinct to slow down and curl up was doing any good either on cold stone. But still, it was all I could really do for now, so I moved as close to the inner edge as I could and settled down, simply watching everyone hustle by. Hearing was failing me, so my eyes would have to do.

Still, this could have been worse, I guess. The urge to hide away in their offices meant that no one was sticking around to stare at an ugly fountain and those who liked it enough to smile at it looked up at the witch and wizard above their slaves, not at the wall surrounding the pool. I'd gone undetected. And while I hadn't found the slightest hint of Controllers, let alone the Yeerk Pool, I was able to watch out for suspicious activity. You know, like signs that the others had been discovered? If they had, they would have had plans for apprehension put into place up here, in case they avoided the initial capture. So far, the only time guards and enforcers came through the area was when...poor people were going through what I suffered through last time I was here.

_Don't think about it!_ I'd been scolding myself almost constantly since I got here. I was alone, I was inactive and the thing I was focusing on was directly connected to the worst memories of my life. Every few minutes, something popped into my head, something that should just stay buried. This place was getting to me very badly. Still, in a way, I had to be a little grateful for them. They were jolting my mind, keeping it active, which I needed right now.

Though personally, I proffered the other worried thought pushing its way to the forefront of my mind: why hadn't I heard anything from the others yet? I didn't expect a 'mission accomplished' or anything, but I was hoping that they'd reassure me that they were still alright by now. I'd tried calling to them a number of times, but they must have been too far down, or in a place with magic interfering. It's possible, magic has the potential to mess around with just about anything non-magical, why would technologically added telepathic communication be any different?

Shaking my head of all unwanted thoughts for the who knew which number of times, I turned all my focus back on the moving crowd, only to tense and stop moving entirely as a shadow passed right over me.

Taking great care not to move a muscle, I kicked myself for my lack of focus as a pair of aristocrats walked right past me, the witch of the pair sweeping her hand against the stone wall as she walk and missing my nose mere centimetres. Panic flooded my whole body at that and it took all that I had not to follow through with the chameleon's intimidation tactics, rapid colour change and biting. If she so much as twitched as those fingers past by me, she would have felt reptilian skin that had no place being there and my cover would have been blown.

Fortunately, that didn't happen. However, as I watched them pass by, I did move further back, letting my tail and back legs hang over the water. I couldn't risk that happening again.

Not feeling safe at all anymore, I twisted my head and looked around the entire edge of the fountain, making sure no one else was sticking so close. I let my body relax a little bit as I found no one on my side. Most People were either keeping their distance from the horrid fountain or standing back to admire it better. There was only the witch and wizard who...

/Huh?/ I almost snapped my neck as I turned back to them. One second, everything seemed fine, normal, and the next the air around them suddenly rippled like crazy, like some diving into water, before they turned into ripples themselves and disappeared.

_That's not possible._ I know magic was amazing, but I had never come across anything like that. A way of rippling yourself into disappearing? Magical transportation is a lot more instantaneous than that and never affects the air around you. And then there was the fact that no had noticed. Considering how busy the area was, it wouldn't be too surprising that no one noticed people disappearing suddenly, especially in the magical world, but something that slow and noticeable? That should have aroused some form of suspicion. But nope, nothing. What was going on?

_Maybe it's my eyes. _Now that was a possibility. I could see what no wizard could ever hope to see, especially since they won't accept the advantages of science. Who's to say that ultraviolet eyesight couldn't see through a magical barrier, like such simple things as..._Illusion charms!_

I had to get closer, quickly. This could be worth paying attention to. Death Eater, Yeerk, Ministry of Magic, who cared who was behind it? They're all enemies at the moment and the less tricks they could pull on us, the better.

Looking around one more time, just to make sure no one was paying real attention to my direction, I pressed myself to the stone as best I could and walked right over. Stopping for a second as I reached where the air rippled, I took two seconds to stare at it before taking a breath, pushing my nerves down and slowly placing one foot through.

The air rippled all around the area again, but I felt completely fine. It was definitely only an illusion. What startled me was the fact that the entire fountain pool area below the parameter wall was rippling too. Touching the illusion must set the whole thing off, but since my tail's been to the statue the whole time I was there, I never noticed it last time. It wasn't just that spot covered by an illusion, the pool itself was too. which meant...

/You've gotta be kidding me!/ Ignoring all doubts and fears, I ran through the veil as quickly as my lethargic body would allow me, crossing through just in time to see the witch from before and another Ministry Official, a wealthy, and therefore probably a high ranked one, holding the wizard that had accompanied her there down with while spluttered around with his head forced halfway into the water.

/That's disgusting!/ Was the first thought to pass my mind as I stared, stunned, at the liquid. Now that I was within the illusion, I could see it for what it really was. Instead of the clear, pristine water that the general public saw coming from their oh so hideous statue, it was actually thick and grey, reminding me a great deal of sludge. But that wasn't all. At the very base of the statue, submerged just under the liquid's surface, came a dull, pinkish light. And as I stared at it, a small, thin shadow swam out from it, heading straight for the spluttering and screaming man before disappearing in the solid grey. I had no doubts about what it was though, for a minute later, the struggling wizard came to a complete halt and was gently lifted back upright, his former captors taking out their wands and casting drying charms on him. His face was completely blank for few more moments, but after that, his eyes hardened and a malicious smirk split his face. Turning to his associates, he gave each a nod and shared sneers before walking off.

I however, shivered. For a few moments, I couldn't stop the flashbacks, memories of desperately yanking at the chains on my arms, holding me in place on the chair in the courtroom and in my cell. It took a good few minutes to squash them down.

For not only was I in the place where I was convicted to imprisonment, I had just watched it happen in one of, if not the worst way possible. I had just watched a free, possibly innocent man be forced into becoming a Controller.

When I did finally pull myself out of it, I wasn't sure if I had the greatest or worst luck possible. Somehow, without even trying really, I had found the Yeerk Pool. Well, I was sure Harry and the others would be happy. That might make it worth the enhancement to my nightmares I'd just gotten.

That is, of course, if we could answer the big question: How do we take out a monument the Death Eaters love in front of countless people and make it out alive?


End file.
